By Caitlin and Jed

It felt like we were deep in the jungle and had stepped into a movie scene. At any moment a jaguar or tapir could cross our path. It was eerily quiet except for the occasional rustle or deep yell, which made us stop with urgency and look around to catch a glimpse of some exotic animal. We kept walking further from the road hoping to find the monkeys we had been hearing since our arrival in Costa Rica. Now we were closer than ever but we didn't know it. When we turned a corner, the onslaught began, as the Howler Monkeys started warning each other of our approach. We strained our eyes, searching the top of the canopy for a sighting. They scurried as they yelled at us and their sounds were surprisingly deep for their small size. There was no creeping up on these guys but we watched and listened as we felt a million miles from humanity or civilization. The barrage of sound faded out and we made our way back to the road so we wouldn't be lost in the jungle after dark.

We spent the majority of our time in Costa Rica exploring its beautifully preserved jungles and rainforests. Being one of the most popular tourist destinations in Central America, Costa Rica is on top of its game when recognizing the importance of conservation to the country's continued financial success. The extremely biodiverse rainforests are always exciting to walk through. You won't spot many large mammals, like you might see in Africa, but there are plenty of monkeys, sloths, snakes, colorful parrots and even super interesting leaf-cutter ants to keep you entertained.

At a completely deserted beach (since it is only not filled with water for a few hours a day)

But Costa Rica is more than just jungles. In one day in Costa Rica you could be at the beach, exploring a market, touring a coffee plantation or on top of a volcano, but perhaps our favorite experience in Costa Rica was traveling with the Hadas family (Jed's sister's family)! The kids were braver than us when we were zipping through the tree canopy on ziplines or spotting potentially deadly snakes at a night-time rainforest walk. With the Hadas family, we got to explore a cloud forest in the northern part of the country (which is a very high-up forest, in the clouds) and the southern and least-developed part of Costa Rica, the Osa Peninsula (which we would highly recommend). It required taking a flight on tiny, single engine propeller plane and a rough hour long drive through the jungle to get to our place in Osa, but the beautiful ecolodge in the middle of the rainforest and unbelievably tasty food made it all worth it. How do they get such fresh food out there?!

The developed infrastructure, yet preserved rainforests: there is a reason Costa Rica is so high on everyone's travel list. We surely weren't disappointed! Special shout out to the Hadas family for coming out to visit us!

By Dan, Jamie and Brad

Neon Night

Welcome back to the Branmie (Brad, Dan, and Jamie) Wherever the Wind takeover! The three of us were sufficiently brutalized by the Chicago winter that we decided to meet up with Jaitlin as they started to make their way through Central and South America. We were also joined by Kerry, Caitlin’s friend from the Peace Corps, and Evan, Jed’s friend from college. The five of us joined them in Nicaragua, reviews of which ranged from “It’s the new Costa Rica!” to “Why are you going THERE?!”

A welcome Kerry de Caña

Branmie, Kerry and Evan were greeted by Jaitlin with their first sips of what came to be known as Kerry de Caña, a delicious drink consisting of Flor de Caña (a Nicaraguan rum) and a squeeze of lime. After settling into our most “Wherever the Wind” -like accommodations of the trip (one room with four sets of bunk beds and a cold shower), we ventured out for dinner in Managua (and the first of about 300 servings of ceviche that we would collectively consume over the course of the trip). In search of some local nightlife, we headed to Chamán, a gigantic indoor/outdoor nightclub modeled like a huge pyramid. Translation issues initially led our cabs to a much more local “club” (more like an abandoned parking lot-turned-motorcycle rave) on the way there. We were frightened but intrigued as we directed the driver to the correct club… but later in the night, the alcohol having lowered our fear and increased our intrigue, we decided to tempt fate and check it out. Though we wouldn’t advise anyone to venture there, we did briefly dance to salsa music, enjoy some fried cheese, and manage to leave after getting many strange looks with our stomachs and lives intact. Continuing our adventures, we also experienced the late night food trucks outside of the clubs, with varying levels of success (or food poisoning).

The Pyramid Shaped Club

Lots of bikes at the biker party

Some post-club street food. yum.

The next morning, we boarded a bus and headed southwest to San Juan del Sur, a beach town on the country’s Pacific coast. We rented a beautiful, mind-bogglingly cheap condo up on a hill, about a 15-minute hike from the beach. Most of our three-and-half days there were spent in a joyous cycle of swimming in the ocean, lying on the beach, eating and drinking along the coast, and taking a billion sunset photos. We hopped into the back of someone’s van one day for a day trip to Playa Madera, a beach about a 30-minute drive away known for its surfing that featured some of the biggest, most incredible waves we’d ever seen. We also rented a private boat tour one night, on which we consumed much Toña (the local beer of choice) and witnessed the best sunsets of all.

San Juan del Sur was much more beach town than tourist city, but we did enjoy hiking up to Cristo de la Misericordia, a giant Jesus statue overlooking the city in Río-like fashion, ziplining and watching Brad and Evan try fly-boarding, the latest futuristic adventure craze.

After soaking up the sun, Toñas, and ceviche, we piled into another van and headed back toward Lake Nicaragua to the colonial city of Granada. We spent that evening touring the Mombacho Cigar Factory and learning all about the cigar-making process, which was fascinating to some of us and painful on the nostrils to others. Our tour guide, Danny, is a transplant from Gibraltar. If you would like to seriously question your life choices, take a look at his Instagram account: https://instagram.com/danny_mombacho/

Making cigars at Mombacho

In front of the active (and smoking) Masaya Volcano

The next day, our lovely host “Nothing is Impossible” Julio arranged a full day’s tour for us that started out at the Masaya Volcano. We hiked several routes to enjoy various indescribable views of this active volcano, stopping every few seconds to take a photo of each new view. We also hiked a cave created by the flow of lava from one of the eruptions. Correction: some of us hiked this cave, while others of us ran in fear the moment we spotted bats -- and there were LOTS of them.

Brad jumping for joy at the volcano

Getting spooky in the cave

After serious contemplation of sending our passports on a one-way trip to the bottom of Masaya, we ventured into town for some bargain shopping at Mercado de Masaya, a local market, before embarking on a boat tour of Lago de Nicaragua. If you have tens of thousands of dollars to spare, consider purchasing one of the available little islands on this giant lake. We boated past many that had already been bought and built on by some local millionaires (such as the owner of the aforementioned Toña) with ridiculous amenities.

We were also boarded at one point by Lola and her child, monkeys well-known by the locals who inhabit one of the islands. Some of us welcomed their visit, while others cowered in fear that they might find it more appealing to try to eat us instead of the bananas our captain was shoveling out to them.

All in all, Nicaragua was a fantastic experience. The country is clearly developing, and its larger cities may look very different in another decade. We enjoyed a great mix of experiences, from the relaxation of the beach to the incredible views of an active volcano, and everything in between. Though we miss Jed and Caitlin dearly and can’t wait until they return to the States, we’re thrilled to have gotten to crash their tour around the world for many unforgettable moments.

By Jed

The Volcano Boarding group

Some of the most popular tourist attractions in Central America are its plentiful volcanoes. Many of them are truly spectacular, from their beautiful crater lakes to their still-smoking craters. A hike up a volcano is a truly awesome experience. But sledding down a volcano at 40KPH is a wholly different kind of experience.There are only a few volcanoes in the world that have ideal conditions for the so-called “sport” of Volcano Boarding. Cerro Negro outside of Leon, Nicaragua, is one such volcano. It is a Cinder Cone Volcano, which means it erupts from the bottom and the debris causes it to build up into a cone shape. Most Cinder Cone Volcanoes only erupt once and then are permanently dormant. Cerro Negro, however, is one of the most active volcanoes in the world, having erupted more than 20 times. It's frequent eruptions has caused it to be higher than most Cinder Cone Volcanoes and has resulted in layers of relatively fresh, fine ash covering its slopes. These conditions prompted several mountain bikers to try (and succeed) to break the downhill speed record a number of years ago (although one ended in a disintegrated bike and many broken bones). Some crazy Australians then decided to try and ride other things down the volcano. They eventually ended up with this sort of wooden sled as the best/most fun tool and people have been riding down Cerro Negro with this board ever since.

Me hiking up

Getting our suits on

Cerro Negro

The hour long hike up the volcano is extremely difficult, not so much due to the steepness of the terrain, but because you are carrying a long wooden board (which is quite far from aerodynamic) and the wind is out of control. Although someone lost a hat, amazingly everyone held onto their boards the whole way up, despite some close calls. Once at the top, you suit up in a giant orange jumpsuit and protection goggles. Then you get your first look of the slope down and it is terrifying. You can only see a few feet of the slope down and then it is a steep drop off with no ability to see the "path." So it is a bit of trial by fire. There is an option to try to board down the volcano like a snowboard, but it is impossible to carve and so you end up just falling the whole way down. So almost everyone rides it like a sled and lays back on the board as you fly down the volcano.

After a few braver people went first, it was my turn to go. With no option to back down, I leaned back and pushed off. I picked up speed pretty fast and was a bit nervous as I was drifting left and right. I soon got the hang of it though and was having a blast. I continued to pick up speed and rocks started blowing by my face. The goggles didn't seem to stop pieces of gravel from flying into my eyes, but I kept pressing through. It was amazing how smooth it was, like sledding down a giant snow covered hill. After about 30 seconds, I reached the bottom and hit a giant divot that flung me into the air. Somehow I managed to stay on the board and come to a relatively peaceful stop. I picked up my board from the top as it is too hot on the bottom from the friction to touch. It was then that I saw one of the guys who had gone before me, his head completely covered in fresh blood and dirt.

The way down

That's me! (that's a shirt on my face to try and protect it from flying rocks)

Me again

Turns out trying to break the speed record may not be the best idea. This guy had flipped off his board, and went tumbling down the hill, head first. And he wasn't the only one; about half the riders fell at least once, but none as bad or painful as him. Injuries while volcano boarding are not uncommon. Volcano Boarding at Cerro Negro was ranked by CNN as the #2 activity for a thrill-seeker (number one being flying a Russian Fighter Jet), so it attracts many daredevils who are trying to go as fast as possible. Many fail and get some gruesome injuries in the process. A trip to the ER post-volcano boarding is a pretty regular experience. But if you don't try to be a hero and just go at a “regular” pace, you should be fine.I ended up clocking in at 40KPH (25 MPH), which was a respectable average pace for the guys of the day. The good news for the guy with the bloody head is he had the speed record of the day at a blazing 70KPH (44MPH)! His prize for the pain: a free shot (probably very much needed).

A pic from before he bloodied up that head

Someone zooming down

Someone about to wipe out hard

If volcano boarding doesn't sound like your thing, there are plenty of great volcano hikes in Central America. Our favorites were to the active, smoking ones, such as Masaya and Telica. At Telica, you can get ride up to the edge of the smoking crater, and if you look into it at night, you can even see some of the burning embers. The view of the sunset from up there is also spectacular. Definitely put a volcano visit on the top of your itinerary if you go to Nicaragua.